In the first quarter of its fiscal 2010 year, which ended in September 2009, gift giant 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. sold around $10,000 through its m-commerce site and apps. Since then, millions of consumers have purchased smartphones that they use to access the mobile web, leading to a robust growth in m-commerce that can be seen quite clearly from 1-800-Flowers.com’s latest mobile sales figures.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2011 ended Sept. 26, m-commerce sales topped $1 million, a 9,900% increase over Q1 2010 sales. Mobile commerce sales, the retailer says, now account for 1% of the company’s total sales. 1-800-Flowers.com reported total sales of $104.5 million in fiscal Q1 2011.

With a 100-fold increase in sales, the merchant, needless to say, is quite happy with the performance of its mobile commerce channel.

“We are very pleased to have consistently strong m-commerce growth,” says Kevin Ranford, vice president of online marketing, mobile and social media. “Flower gifting on the go is a perfect use-case for mobile, and we see no reason that the solid positive trend won’t continue, especially given the rapid growth of smartphone adoption. With an optimized mobile web experience and downloadable apps for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry—as well as several new user interface enhancements we’ll be rolling out—we are well-positioned for holiday season mobile gifting.”

The rapid growth of smartphone adoption, as Ranford points out, is key to the growth of m-commerce. When it comes to m-commerce sites, smartphones enable a larger, crisper and faster experience. And smartphones are the drivers of mobile apps, which enable richer and faster mobile experiences than m-commerce sites.

In the third quarter of 2009, 19% of mobile phones in use were smartphones, research firm The Nielsen Co. says. In the third quarter of this year, smartphones accounted for 31% of mobile phones in use. Nielsen projects that in Q32011, 49% of mobile phones in use will be smartphones.

48% of mobile phone owners have made a purchase via the mobile web or a mobile app, a recent survey from Lightspeed Research finds.